SUMMER AND WINTER TRAVELLING. 213 



pool. Such idlers get constantly in rear of their 

 comrades ; the sharp crack of the Indian's whip re- 

 calling the truants to a sense of their indiscretion, 



o 



they gallop with all their might to overtake the 

 train ; an undue haste, the usual result of which 

 is to scatter the load along the trail. Then the 

 culprits get a real taste of the thong, and are re- 

 packed. Every now and then they have a row, 

 and, reckless of loads, roll one over the other, a 

 very heap of dogs, all seeming to have an indivi- 

 dual interest in the quarrel of any two. Sticks, 

 whips, and kicks quell the riot ; the packs again 

 adjusted, on they trot. 



In winter, when a trackless expanse of dazzling 

 white extends in every direction from sky-line 

 to sky-line, it is quite a picturesque sight and 

 pleasant to witness a travelling party of Crees. 

 The dogs, now harnessed to light sleighs (some of 

 them made with runners, others simply a flat 

 piece of board turned up at each end), jog after 

 the men, who, shod with snow-shoes, stride along 

 on the snow, as if it was hard ground ; crossing 

 lakes and rivers on the ice, impassable at other 



* 



periods of the year. Each dog has usually a 

 little string of bells round its neck, and as the 

 bells are of different tones, the jingling music 

 ringing clearly and sharply through the frosty 



